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Good 3D Browser Based Game Engine?

Started by sc2071 Jan 31, 2005 at 9:03 AM 6 replies 1.7k views

Original Post

sc2071

Jan 31, 2005 at 9:03 AM

I am trying to build a casual 3D web game in the same genre as Snood or Puzzle Bubble, but having great difficulty finding a good engine/language to use. Probably good for you to know that I'm the artist with backgroud experience building small Flash games, and my partner's prior programming experience is with VB and backend web stuff. This is out first effort getting into making a 3D game. Because of my experience with Flash, I thought Macromedia Director MX 2004 would be a nice quick way of making this game. I knew that I wouldn't get Doom 3 quality graphics :), but as I'm finding out it seems doubtful to get Quake 1 quality graphics! On top of that, the ease of programming I was hoping for seems to have been an illusion. So, I was hoping that someone in this community might have some suggestions for me. Our needs are: * Game has to be able to be played in browser * Game should be available as a stand-alone for offline play * 3D Engine * Common Game Subroutines (like collision detection) would be nice I've looked at Wild Tangent, which looks great, except the licensing fee seems outrageous for a two-person startup. I've also heard that you can make a game play in a web browser through ActiveX if you can save the game down as a .DLL. I have no idea how this done and/or if it would open the possibility of using something like DarkBasic or Blitz3D. Any advice, suggestions, etc. would be so much appreciated! Thank you!

DrEvil

Jan 31, 2005 at 9:11 AM

Think Director MX is about your best bet. Not sure where you get that you aren't able to make good looking graphics.

Check out this page for some nice tech demos.

http://www.noisecrime.com/develop/

As a Lingo programmer myself I'd say programming in Director is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Additionally there's always the option of extending it by writing custom xtras.

Although not a "game engine", director meets all your requirements.
- Obviously playable in browser
- Ability to create "projectors" which are standalone exe files that run your project/game.
- Comes with Havok physics built in, so rag dolls and collision detection is pretty trivial to enable.

johnhattan

Jan 31, 2005 at 9:13 AM

Virtools and 3D Groove also have high-performance browser-based 3D.

sc2071

Jan 31, 2005 at 9:51 AM

Thanx for the links! Looks like some impressive demos.

FYI: I looked into VirTools a long time ago for a company I use to work for. At that time, per game licensing fees were going for $10,000! Also, I'm not convinced their web plugin has the distribution that Shockwave or Wild Tangent does. Please correct me if I am wrong! However, it does seem like an incredible game engine for those who don't wish to make their own. :)

As far as 3DGroove.com, they look like they are selling the games, not the tools to make them. Is there a link you could refer me too?

Thanx!

johnhattan

Jan 31, 2005 at 10:28 AM

3D Groove's tools are distributed on a "call us to get more info" basis. email info@3DGroove.com for more info.

As far as browser penetration, there's Flash and Java (pre-installed with most browsers) and everything else (you have to install a plug-in when content first appears). The Virtools plugin is pretty seamless, and the 3D Groove plugin installs as a Shockwave plugin, so it's pretty easy too.

IMHO, the WT plugin is a nightmare. It's invasive Windows-only and puts an icon in your tray to remind you to keep playing its games and is recognized as spyware by some spyware-killers. I don't even bother playing WT games anymore.

johnhattan

Jan 31, 2005 at 10:36 AM

Quote:
Although not a "game engine", director meets all your requirements.
- Obviously playable in browser
- Ability to create "projectors" which are standalone exe files that run your project/game.
- Comes with Havok physics built in, so rag dolls and collision detection is pretty trivial to enable.

Yeah, I tend to agree. Despite having a 3D engine that hasn't been upgraded in a few years, Director's still the king of browser-based 3D. The Havok physics add-on is a nice addition to the tool. You can also make standalone executables for Windows and Mac, which is handy if you want to later make your game available on CD.

There are also loads of good add-ons for Director.

The only big problem I had with Director was that its programming language was archaic and had a weird syntax. This, however, was fixed with their new &#106avascript support, giving you the option of using a more modern programming language.

Rattenhirn

Jan 31, 2005 at 11:03 AM

Whatever you do, make sure you stay away from WildTangent.

It's 3d engine hasn't been updated for over a year, they don't have a developer support team any more.

The 3d engine has a lot of annoying bugs and is missing some basic features, which won't be fixed or added.

It sure is easy to use at first, but its "simple" structure will bite your ass sooner of later. ;)

So all in all you don't get much for your money.

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